Sanitary Disposable Holder For Articles Of Personal Hygiene

Abstract

A holder for toothbrush and other toilet or personal articles for use in a motel or hotel room or in a home guest room, comprises a wall bracket having a pair of holder studs; and a disposable sanitized holder disc having a pair of apertures to receive the studs with a force-fit and having peripheral slots and/or openings to receive the toilet articles; the disc being scored or otherwise weakened along a diameter intersecting the attachment apertures, such that the disc can be readily broken in halves for quick removal from the holder studs. The disc is replaced by a fresh, sanitized holder disc for the next guest to occupy the room.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A number of prior proposals for sanitary disposable holders for tooth brushes and the like, have been made over a number of years past, although I am not aware of any of them that have become available for sale and use. Such prior proposals are disclosed in the following patents:

Morris, 3,108,695, Oct. 29, 1963

Heisser, 3,002,630, Oct. 3, 1961

Elliott, 2,916,154, Dec. 8, 1959

Elliott, 2,916,155, Dec. 8, 1959

Holders for toothbrushes and other articles, utilizing an apertured disc mounted on a bracket, are disclosed in the following prior patents:

Merendino, 2,956,851, Oct. 18, 1960

Hammesfahr, 1,206,321, Nov. 28, 1916

Weitermann, 2,925,915, Feb. 23, 1960

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a toilet article holder embodying a permanent wall bracket having a flat horizontal arm with upwardly projecting headed studs, and a disposable disc with article-receiving openings and/or peripheral slots, adapted to rest on the flat upper face of the bracket arm and to be secured by the headed studs, forced through a pair of registering apertures on a weakened diameter of the disc. A fresh, sanitized holder disc is provided for each new guest in a motel or hotel room or other guest room, and when the guests leaves, the disc is removed by breaking it into two halves along the weakened diameter. A fresh holder disc is then attached to the bracket by forcing it down over the holder studs after registering the studs with the holder apertures.

The general object of the invention is to provide such a holder apparatus, of relatively simple and inexpensive construction. Other objects are:

To provide a bracket and holder disc combination in which the holder disc can be quickly attached to the bracket and quickly removed therefrom.

To provide such a combination in which the holder discs can be fabricated cheaply in quantity by a simple die-blanking operation, from thin plastic sheet material or equivalent.

These and other objects will become apparent in the ensuing specification and appended drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a holder bracket and disc combination embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an inverted plan view of the same, the bracket arm being largely broken away and shown in phantom to show the weakening score line on the under surface of the disposable disc;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the same, taken on line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a front edge view of the same, viewed along the weakened breakaway axis;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary view, partially in section, of a modified form of attachment stud; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a modified form of the holder bracket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawing in detail, I have shown in FIGS. 1-4 thereof, as an example of one form in which the invention can be embodied, a holder combination including a disposable holder disc A mounted on a wall bracket B in a horizontal plane, and adapted to support a number of toilet or other personal articles such as a toothbrush C.

Holder disc A is of thin brittle, stiff material such as hard plastic sheet material such as can rapidly be shaped by punching in a blanking die. It has in its under surface a score line 10 providing a weakened web 11 connecting a pair of semi-circular halves along a diameter axis of the disc. On this axis are a pair of attachment apertures 12 and, in the front area of the disc, a holder slot 13. The alignment of apertures 12 and slot 13 on the disc diameter, adds to the weakening effect. Although this effect could be heightened by additional openings along the breakaway axis, in the absence of the score line, the fracture might not bisect the apertures 12 in all instances. Accordingly, the score line will function to direct the fracture through the apertures.

The apertures 12 are eccentrically arranged with reference to the center of the disc A, being disposed away from the slot 13 toward the back of the disc. In each half of the disc are a plurality of holder openings which may include a hole 15 and one or more peripheral slots 16 similar to slot 13.

Bracket B comprises a leg 17 attachable to a wall or other vertical support D in a vertical position, and an arm 18 projecting horizontally from the leg as thus attached. Anchored in the arm 18 and projecting upwardly from the horizontal upper face thereof, are a pair of headed studs 20 having respective heads 21 of semispherical or conical form, slightly larger in diameter than the apertures 12 and spaced to register therewith. Heads 21 have flat shoulders 22 on their undersides, spaced above the upper surface of arm 18 a distance slightly greater than the thickness of disc A, so that the edge portions of the disc surrounding the apertures can snap beneath the shoulders 22 after forcing the disc downwardly over the heads 21. The disc A, when thus forced over the stud heads, will lie flatly on the upper surface of arm 18, resting thereon and held by studs 20 in coupled attachment to arm 18 such as to prevent tipping under the weight of an article hanging from it in an accentric position, not balanced by an equal weight on the opposite side of the disc, as suggested in FIG. 1. The coupled attachment also prevents accidental removal of the disc A from holder B when articles are being inserted into or removed from the holder.

When the disc A is to be removed after its use by a guest has been completed, the maid or other attendant grasps the two sides of the disc at right angles to the score line 10, and bends the two halves of the disc upwardly until the disc breaks in two at the score line. The two halves are then discarded and a new disc is installed as described above.

For attachment of the leg 17 to a vertical support D, it may be provided with a pair of apertures 25 to receive screws or other fasteners 26, fastened into the wall. As an alternative mounting means (FIG. 6), the bracket leg 17A without fastener apertures, may be provided with a back coating 28 of highly adhesive material, covered with a protective film or sheet 29 until ready for use, when the sheet 29 is stripped off and the exposed adhesive is pressed firmly against the support D.

FIG. 5 illustrates how, instead of the headed studs 20, the studs 20A of bulb shape, may have a tight, frictional, interference fit in attachment apertures 12, such as to provide a coupled attachment of the disc to arm 18 adequate to secure the disc against tipping under the weight of an article hanging from one side of the disc. For example, the diameter of head 20A at its rounded point may be 3/16 inch, enlarging to 9/32 inch at its maximum diameter, and decreasing to 1/4 at its base, for reception in a 1/4 hole 12 in disc A.

The projecting peripheral portions of disc A, sanitized before mounting it on bracket B, will provide sanitary support for articles of personal hygiene such as a toothbrush, free of contact with any contaminated surfaces. Preferably, the discs A are provided to guests in sanitary sealed envelopes from which the guests can remove them and attach them to bracket B.

Disc A is designed so that no part of the disc or the suspended articles can come into contact with vertical support surface D, and the suspended articles cannot contact bracket B. Bracket B is functionally designed for easy cleaning or sanitizing when the disc A is removed.

Claims

I claim:

1. Sanitary article holding apparatus comprising:

a bracket including mounting means;

a flat support arm projecting therefrom in a substantially horizontal position in the mounted position thereof,

and a pair of attachment studs secured to said arm in spaced relation and projecting upwardly therefrom;

and a disposable sanitary holder disc of thin stiff sheet material having a pair of attachment apertures spaced so as to register with said studs, whereby said studs are receivable therein, said studs having enlarged portions intermediate their upper and lower ends, of slightly larger diameter than said apertures, such as to require pressure on said disc to force the edges of said apertures over said enlarged portions with a coupling action such as to secure said disc in supported relation on said arm with a portion of the disc projecting beyond the arm,

said projecting disc portion having an opening to receive and provide sanitary support for an article of personal hygiene.

2. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 1:

said attachment apertures being located on a diameter of said disc so that said projecting portion will be duplicated in opposite sides of the disc projecting laterally from respective sides of said arm,

said opposite sides of the disc each having at least one of said article-support openings.

3. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 1:

said disc being of brittle material and weakened along the common axis of said attachment apertures, whereby it can be readily broken into halves along said axis so as to release it from its coupled attachment to said studs.

4. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 3:

said disc having a plurality of said article-support openings, one of which is an open slot in a peripheral portion of said disc projecting beyond the end of said arm,

said slot being disposed on said common axis of attachment apertures and cooperating therewith to weaken the disc along said axis.

5. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 3:

said disc having a plurality of said article-supporting openings, some of which are open slots in peripheral portions of said disc projecting beyond the sides of said arm,

others of said openings being holes spaced inwardly from said periphery portions and outwardly of respective sides of said arm.

6. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 1:

said disc having a score line traversing it along a diameter thereof which intersects both of said attachment apertures, said score line defining a weakened web joining two halves of the disc which can be broken apart along said score line to release the disc from its coupled attachment to said studs.

7. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 1:

said studs having enlarged heads adapted to be forced through said attachment apertures with an interference fit, and said heads having therebeneath annular shoulders spaced above said arm's upper surface so as to engage the upper surface of said disc to hold the disc against the upper surface of the arm, thereby securing it against tipping under the weight of an article supported by one side of the disc.

8. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 7:

said disc being of brittle material and weakened along the common axis of said attachment apertures to facilitate breaking the disc into halves along said axis, for ready removal of the disc from its coupled attachment to said studs.

9. Article holding apparatus as defined in claim 1:

said studs being of bulb shape, such as to have a tight, frictional interference fit in said attachment apertures to secure the disc against the upper surface of the arm so as to prevent tipping under the weight of an article supported by one side of the disc.

10. Article holder apparatus as defined in claim 9:

said disc being of brittle material and weakened by a score line along the common axis of said attachment apertures to facilitate breaking the disc into halves along said axis, the halves being readily removable from said studs.